Yes… yes, it was Miley Cyrus

I opened up the Shazam app the other day because a song I liked was playing nearby. I’d only heard a few seconds but it sounded interesting. I can’t lie about that. What I WISH I could lie about is the singer.

Hi. My name is Ben. And I recently liked a Miley Cyrus song.

They say admitting it is a big step in healing, right? So what do I do now? I’ve just confessed that I, a 42-year-old man, liked listening to Miley Cyrus. And you want to know the scary truth? This isn’t the first song I’ve liked of hers.

What’s wrong with me?

There is some hope for me yet, though. This song is not a Miley original. She was covering Blondie’s version, released in 1978. Hallelujah! So one might say that I liked the song …from what I could hear of it; the tune, the melody. Way down the list of “likes” was the voice, if it was on the list at all.

OK, I can handle that.

-Out of the Wilderness

My experience selling a car to Carvana

If you would’ve told me in July that in just a few months I’d be living in a different home, in a different state, and driving a different car, I would’ve thought you were off your meds.

And yet, every one of those things is true. Getting right into what this post is about– I recently sold my 2017 Nissan Versa Note to Carvana and I’m not going to make you wait to find out how it went. In a word, unbelievable. And I mean that in a good way. I had owned my Nissan for about three and a half years, planning to keep it till it’s on its last leg. But as my plans recently changed quite dramatically, selling the car became a serious consideration.

I had an offer from the dealership (the one where I ended up buying the truck I have now), they proposed a trade-in and I was happy with the value they put on the Versa. Then late one night as I was considering their offer I went to the Carvana website just for fun. Would they offer as much as the dealership? I had to find out! And then…

Welp, they offered a lot more than the dealership! This is also after I conservatively described the condition of the vehicle (I put in that it was “in OK shape” when in reality it was in pretty good shape). I didn’t believe this offer could be true but you better believe I ran with it! I decided to just keep moving forward with Carvana until what seemed “too good to be true” disintegrated back into reality.

As I got deeper and deeper into process, though, I started believing it was real. I took it as far as setting up a meeting with a Carvana transport driver. Then came the day when I was supposed to meet him and I still thought, “Something’s going to fall through. It just HAS to.”

I live in a smaller city so I met the Carvana rep about 70 miles away and he showed up in a little flatbed Carvana truck. OK, this was getting real. The guy couldn’t have been nicer! We chatted some, he checked out the vehicle and was impressed with how clean it was (I didn’t mention I’d spent 4 to 5 hours washing, vacuuming, etc) so that made me happy and proud.

I signed their paperwork and left with a check. Even then, I thought this couldn’t be real, even with the check in my hand. From the time he arrived to the time I rode away, it had been no more than 30 minutes. My dad had followed me to the meeting spot so while we were on our way to the next stop on our morning adventure, I asked if we could stop in at the bank. The sooner I could deposit the check, the sooner I’d believe what just happened.

Check. Deposited.

I guess it was all real but I still have a hard time believing it. Such a good experience with Carvana! If you are thinking about selling your vehicle, definitely check out their offer before you make any decisions. There are a few other online-style dealerships so it might be a good idea to look into those also. I’m not saying Carvana will always give you the best deal, maybe a dealership will give you a good offer. But it’s worth your time to at least give Carvana a look. You may end up quite happy with what they offer. I know I was!

Do you already have an experience with Carvana as a seller? If so, I’d love to hear about it. Comment below and I’ll be sure to respond.

Thanks for stopping by…

-Out of the Wilderness

Significant milestones with my Nissan Versa Note

When I bought a Nissan Versa Note in 2018 I had no idea I’d be selling it a few years later. I kind of like to keep things until they are just all out of gas (pun intended!) and this car was no different. The last car I had made it over 200,000 miles (I wrote about it here) before I sold it.

I also liked tracking significant events related to the Versa. I actually posted about a few occasions during the first 5,000 miles of owning it. Check that out here.

It has since cleared 70,000 miles and is a member of the Carvana fleet now. I will absolutely write about my Carvana experience for any of you wondering how that goes as a seller. It was very, very interesting. Check back soon for more on that story.

For now, though, here are a few more landmark miles from my time with the Versa.

6,069. Driving to the hospital to spend the night with my brother-in-law who just had stomach surgery.

12,400. Driving to east Nashville to kayak the Cumberland River.

14,116. Driving to Florida to help with Hurricane Michael clean-up.

22,200. Driving back home after my friends Derek and Mary got married.

23,800. Driving to watch the Rams play the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

39,370. Driving to Tallahassee for my aunt’s funeral.

43,500. Atlanta for my niece’s dance competition.

50,724. Picking up my dog after she ran away, someone picked her up on a busy road and kept her till I could get there.

67,641. Errands with my Mom in Florida.

71,659. The last mile driven before selling the car to Carvana.

Those are just a handful of recorded moments and now I’ll be doing the same thing for a new Chevy truck. Do you keep track of events in your life? If so, how? Chime in below!

Thanks for stopping by…

-Out of the Wilderness

Ain’t it funny how time slips away?

Yes… yes, I used an Elvis song title to start this post because it’s totally applicable! First of all, this post is about music and at the very same time it’s about time. Not like, “Geez, it’s about time!” as if someone is late. More like, “This post is concerning music that was produced and released a long time ago but I’ve just heard it for the first time.” So in a way, I AM late because I can think of many examples where music has been around for a long time, but I am unaware of it. The most recent is music from a band called LCD Soundsystem (@LCDSoundsystem). I recently heard a song of theirs called “I Can Change.”

I thought to myself how great this new song is. But I was wrong. Well, yes it IS great, but it’s NOT new. It’s over 11 years old! What!? Where was I and what was I doing in 2010 that kept me from hearing this great song, and discovering this awesome band?

I have since discovered another song I like of theirs, “All My Friends”…

So the question remains, and I can’t come up with a good answer. How is it that sometimes years or even decades go by before a person hears an amazing song?

Sometimes it’s just youth. When you’re 10 years old you haven’t been around long enough to know what you’re missing. But when you’re 30, 40, 50+ years old, you’d think you would have heard all the great music by then, right?

It amazes me when this happens in my life and while it bamboozles my mind, I’m also grateful at the same time that at least I hear the music no matter how late I am to the party.

Does this happen to you? If so, share your experience in the comments below!

-Out of the Wilderness

I love writing. Lately it’s been about commercials.

When I decided in December 2019 that I was going to write every day for a year, I didn’t really have a theme in mind. I just knew it was a goal I couldn’t dismiss. Up to that point, I’d had this blog for about 9 years. I’d also written for television, and written two children’s books. (Big and Small, God Made Them All and The Brave Bamboo). Shout out to two amazingly gifted illustrators Laura Watson and Teresa Ramos, hiyooo!

Anyway, the blog. Sometimes I posted a few per week, other times it was one every few weeks. There was no rhyme. There was no reason. It also should be mentioned that where I was working for half of the last 11 years included a lot of writing. I know you thought I used to be a male stripper, didn’t you? Nope. So from writing (not twerking) every day at work, there was probably definitely (does that even make sense?) an element of exhaustion when I got home each night, not wanting to write more.

So what are the topics I choose, you might be asking? Well, when you’re writing every day, sometimes (a lot of times!) it takes a bit of creative thinking. Like this one. Other times, they might be about things I never thought I’d write about — *ahem* peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Among stuff I’ve discovered during the whole process of writing for a year, and now doing the same thing in 2021, is that I enjoy researching and writing about commercials. Sometimes it’s one I’ll see on TV, other times it’s an ad during a streaming show through Hulu or other apps. Usually what grabs my attention is the music; it seems to be the case that ads with great (memorable, nostalgic, catchy, emotional, etc) songs are searched for the most by viewers around the country.

Within the joy of writing these types of posts is the contacts and connections I make when doing the research. I’ve conversed with some of the nicest people who have gone out of their way to help me. Ohhh, I’m reminded of something else, so a quick side note is this: I sometimes write about music videos and come across a bunch of kind people there, too. People that don’t really need to stop what they’re doing to help out a guy with a blog he does as a hobby, but they do. And that guy is so appreciative (it’s me, I’m that guy)!

With all that said, now might be a good time to mention which commercials seem to be searched for the most in Google and other sites. Check out the list below and as a bonus– I’ll wrap this post up with a video of my sister’s dog peeing for over 2 minutes. It’s potty time, but at the same time, it’s marvelous.

DoorDash Dash Pass and the Cute Basset Hound

Amazon Prime’s Rapunzel Ad

Allstate’s Dancing Crabs

SKYRIZI Goes Country

Zillow’s Susan Ad

Where ya at, people who measure Guinness World Records?

-Out of the Wilderness